The Angel and the Hunter
by taylorjay
Summary: The grand love story of the Era, how it all ends... with a wedding in heaven. Destiel.


**This story is based on a fanart on Tumblr of Cas and Dean's wedding in heaven: 25. media. tumblr. com. / tumblr_lzti79iflF1r7cqa9o1_500. jpg  
(take out the spaces and the period after com.)  
**

When Dean's time comes, it is not at the hands of a ghost or a demon, it's from old age. After all of his years he's lived through so much, and he's ready to go now in peace. After Sam passed a few years ago, Dean had been ready to leave, but Cas had insisted that he live out his life on Earth to the fullest extent. Dean knows he will die today, but he's not bothered by it in the slightest. He's actually looking forward to it. He is happy and in the presence of the love of his life. He's lived a full life, the best a hunter could ask for.

Castiel is sitting by his bedside as the end of Dean's last day draws to a close, and holds his hand as Dean reminisces on his life- the good parts at least. Cas looks the same as he did the day that Dean met him in that barn, so many years ago.

As Dean takes his last breaths, Castiel lays down on the bed next to him, molding his body to fit Dean's in the perfect way it always has, kissing Dean's forehead gently as Dean twines their fingers together, a small touch of fear seeping into his heart in those last few moments. Even though he had already been to heaven once, this was it- the final time he would be leaving Earth.

"What if they don't let me in, Cas?" Dean asked him quietly, his dark green eyes looking to the angel for comfort, the only part of Dean's body unchanged by time.

"Be at peace, love. There is nothing to fear. You have done so many good things for this world. You will live forever in the glory of Heaven." Cas cradled the side of Dean's face in the palm of his hand, his fingers threading through what remained of Dean's soft, wispy white hair. He could see Dean fighting to the finish, for those last seconds to look up at Castiel's face. "Sleep, Dean. I will never leave you. You will never be alone again."

Dean's eyes fall closed as Castiel bows his head in silence. As Dean's heart slows and his breathing fades, he mourns the loss of Dean's body that for so long encapsulated the soul that he fell in love with. Dean has always been beautiful to Castiel, even in old age, even in death.

"Hello, Castiel." Tessa and Death are waiting at the foot of Dean's bed as Castiel looks up.

"As I understand it, you'd like to take him yourself?" Death asks him as Castiel nods, rising from Dean's deathbed. "I shall allow it." Death touches Dean's arm with a gentle, almost fatherly touch.

When he pulls his hand away, he is cradling a shining ball of white energy. It was more than just Dean's soul, it was everything: his essence, his energy, his memories, condensed into a form that Castiel could ferry to Heaven. Tessa smiles warmly as Death gives Dean's essence to Castiel, who tucks it in a safe inner pocket of his overcoat, right next to his heart.

Castiel gives Death and Tessa a nod of respect before they depart and he turns back to Dean's body. Effortlessly, he lifts it from the bed and turns into the nothingness.

He appears in a meadow in the woods near Bobby Singer's old house, reconstructed and now inhabited by Garth Fitzgerald and his family, the place that Dean considered a second home for so many years. There is already a pyre constructed there, the result of a few weeks' worth of here and there moments that Castiel took when he knew that the end was coming for Dean.

He kisses Dean's eyelids gently as he places him on top of the pyre, stepping back and lighting a nearby log with a flick of his finger. A hunter's burial, just like Dean would have wanted. It is sunset, and the rest of the pyre ignites as Cas whispers a soft prayer. After all, even though he never found God, Castiel still wants to believe.

It is nearing dawn before the Pyre finally burns itself all the way out. Castiel gathers what remains of Dean's ashes and turns again, this time appearing at the Grand Canyon.

The sun has not yet risen here and it is still dark. Dean loved this place, and didn't get to visit it nearly enough in his life, so Cas knew this is where he would want his body to rest in death. He opened his fingers and allowed the early morning winds to carry Dean's ashes from his hands into the depths of the overwhelming canyon.

As the last of Dean's ashes leave his fingers, Castiel takes a moment to reflect on his time here on Earth. Dean will not be allowed to leave Heaven, so he doubts that he will ever return to Earth. He takes a moment to reflect on the beauty of the nature on the planet, he will miss it, he is sure.

The sun begins to peek over the horizon of the Grand Canyon; finally catching up to Castiel as he unfurls his wings and takes flight.

As Castiel flies to heaven, he lets go of his human vessel. Jimmy Novak has been dead for a long time, his soul long since gone to heaven, but his vessel will no longer be necessary. Jimmy's body is buried in a way that no other human has ever been: he becomes a shooting star. To Cas, it seems fitting. This form has meant a lot to him, done so much for him, and the physical body deserves a unique burial, as Castiel will no longer be returning to earth. As he lets go, he says a silent thank you to a young man with a wife and a daughter who gave up everything to help save the world, including his family, his body, and eventually his life.

If any human had looked up into the sky of Arizona that morning, they would have seen a bright shooting star that appeared to fly right into the sun and disappeared from sight.

* * *

As Castiel approached the Bookkeeper at the gates of Heaven, he withdrew Dean's essence from the pocket of his overcoat. Even though he had let go of Jimmy as a human vessel on Earth, he has decided to remain manifested in his same form. He's grown rather attached to and fond of looking this way, and it's the Castiel that Dean knows and fell in love with.

Peter, a wise looking older gentleman, looked up at Castiel as he approached with a smile. "I didn't know that you ferried souls, Castiel."

"Only one." Castiel told him, "Dean Matthew Winchester."

"Ah," Peter's eyes twinkle as he turns a few pages of the ancient book in front of him and Cas knows Peter is pulling his leg. Everyone knows about him and Dean, the Angel and the Hunter, star-crossed lovers together against all odds.

"Aren't you going to let him manifest?" Peter asks as he makes a mark in his book.

"It's human tradition that the wedded to be don't see each other before the ceremony. He cannot see me like this, and I cannot see him, so this was the only way I could ferry him and keep tradition. Sam will help him manifest."

"Go ahead, Castiel. He's on the list, of course he is." Peter waved them through the gates.

"Just a formality, Peter." Cas reminded him as he proceeded through the gates and into, for the first time, his heaven. The one he had created for himself and Dean.

A bright beautiful green lawn is sprawled in front of a castle-like house, decorated in whites and golds and colors so beautiful that were beyond the spectrum of human sight but were now visible. Dean would say it was excessively much, way over the top, but if there was one thing that Castiel could not resist, it was spoiling Dean to his utmost ability. Many of the guests had already arrived and were milling around the lawn, socializing with each other.

"Cas!" Sam Winchester excused himself from a conversation with Jo and Ellen, Jessica beaming at his side, to approach Castiel. He looked young, vibrant, carefree, as many do in heaven. He had visually manifested in heaven as Cas remembered him from their prime years of hunting together.

"Sam." Castiel said contently.

"It's good to see you, man." Sam pulled Castiel into a hug and Cas hugged him back. Today was a joyous day. All of the people that Dean, Sam and Cas had known who had lost their lives were here and alive and happy and they could now finally be at peace.

"Alright," Sam said as he stepped back. "You know the rules. Give him here. You'll see him in a bit." Sam held out his hand.

Castiel reached into the safe pocket of his overcoat and extracted Dean's essence, placing it carefully into Sam's hands.

Sam seemed to understand Cas' reservation about letting Dean go. "I'll take good care of him, Cas. I promise. You just take care of getting yourself to the altar."

"I'll make sure he finds his way," A voice speaks from behind Castiel.

Cas turns and smiles. "Gabriel. It's good to see you brother."

Gabriel throws an arm over Castiel's shoulders and leads him into the castle. "Let's get you changed; everyone's waiting for the wedding to start already."

After the destruction of Naomi's tyranny in heaven, someone had resurrected Gabriel- who, nobody knew, but Cas had a good idea- and ever since had been not really ruling heaven but keeping things in order and running the way that they should be.

They step into a side room where a beautiful white and gold tunic and cape are waiting for him. For the last time, he removes his beloved overcoat and suit, and the tie that he had been wearing backwards all this time but never bothered to change. It felt very symbolic, as if he was moving from one phase of his life to the next. He would never wear this outfit again. He turned to slip into the white and gold tunic. It was incredibly soft, made of woven grace, something that could never have been made on Earth.

Gabriel placed on Castiel's hair a bejeweled crown. As a seraph, Castiel was closely ranked near Gabriel, and therefore was considered near royalty in heaven. Cas smirked, as he knew this was his brother's intention for creating the crown. He would wear it if it appeased his brother, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

"Are you excited?" Gabriel asked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"I have been waiting an eternity for this day and it has finally come." Castiel told him, "What do you think?"

"Oh, I thought you might be excited. Marrying the love of your existence and all." Gabriel joked. "Have you made his ring yet?"

"Yes, because I've been in heaven for so long." Cas said sarcastically, "Give me a few minutes."

Gabriel stepped outside the room as Castiel thought about the ring he wanted to make for Dean. He'd been thinking about it for a long time now, and here in heaven, emotions could be made into physical manifestations. He pulled together every ounce of love, devotion, and commitment he had and poured it into that simple gold band. He hoped that when Dean wore it he would be able to feel a fraction of what Castiel felt for him. He knew that somewhere else in the castle, Sam was walking Dean through all the same things, and he resisted reaching out to Dean mentally, as tempting as it was.

Exiting the room to find Gabriel waiting for him, the two of them journeyed together back out the castle doors to the makeshift altar on the landing halfway up the grand outdoor staircase that faced the rows of their loved ones.

As they saw Castiel reach the altar, the many rows of people broke from their conversations and began to sit down. From where he stood, Cas could see a weeping Mary Winchester in the front row being held by John, who looked to be getting emotional himself, next to Bobby Singer, who looked much younger and happier in heaven than Cas had ever seen him in life. Looking through the crowd Cas could pick out faces he recognized: Samuel Campbell, Ellen, Jo, Samandiriel, Kevin Tran and his mother and a few others.

Silence fell over the crowd as Sam emerged from the castle doors, traveled down the stairs to the mid-landing where the altar was, and stood opposite Cas and off to the side a bit.

Castiel tore his gaze from Sam as Sam gave him a reassuring smile to look back up at the closed castle doors just as they opened. Dean stepped out into the glowing sunlight, and Cas was sure that if he had a beating heart, it would have stopped. Dean was incredibly breathtaking, dressed in a similar white and gold tunic, manifested in his mid-twenties, he looked so incredibly happy. Happier than Cas had ever seen him before. Like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders and he just looked so unabashedly thrilled that Cas had to grin just looking at him.

Dean descended the stairs slowly with the expected Dean-esqe swagger that Cas knew and loved to join Cas at the altar. Dean was smiling from ear to ear as he grasped Cas' hands and Cas knew that his face looked similar.

As the most official and powerful all of them, Gabriel was officiating over the ceremony, even as Castiel had to send him quite a few glares to keep him on topic and out of the gutters. It was finally time to exchange rings.

As Cas slid Dean's ring onto his finger, no verbal vows were needed. Everything that needed to be said was expressed in his gaze to Dean and he could see that Dean understood how deep Cas' devotion to him ran. As Gabriel asked the most important question, Castiel proudly said, "I Do."

When Dean slid Cas' ring onto his own finger, Cas stole a glance at it. It was simple, as Dean's was, but manifested out of the same undying love and devotion that Cas had used to forge his own. "I Do." Dean spoke confidently, his heavenly voice music to Cas' ears.

"Then by the power invested in me by, well, heaven, I now pronounce you married. Now kiss already." Gabriel threw the bible over his shoulder and stepped away from the altar as Cas pulled Dean into the most mind-numbing, incredible kiss he had ever experienced.

The world could have ended, the apocalypse could have begun again and heaven could have been completely destroyed and Cas would have never have known he was so wrapped up in the perfection that was Dean Winchester. He wrapped his arms around Dean's waist as Dean threw his arms over Cas' shoulders, his hands grasping at the base of Cas' wings.

Cas and Dean both laughed as they pulled away, so giddy and happy and absorbed in each other that nothing else mattered. They were married now, forever. Cas leaned in again and placed another kiss in the hollow of Dean's neck as Dean laughed and Cas rejoiced in the sound.

He had never been happier than he was here, in this moment.

As the two of them turned to face their family and friends for the first time as a married couple, they held their clasped hands together over their heads.

Against all odds, they had fallen in love. The Angel and the Hunter- the grand love story of the era.

Castiel embraced his lover as they walked down the stairs together, leaning over to whisper into Dean's ear to whisper the one promise he knew he would always keep.

"I love you."


End file.
